Handcrafted Gifts for 2016!

Here in the Workshop we're thinking of New Year resolutions already!  But this new project needs a lot of preparation... the design team have their heads in dreamy clouds, pencils whittled and at the ready... to conjure up all handcrafted gifts and cards for 2016!

Three thoughts have meandered, roamed and finally joined hands:

Living the Simple Life

                                     The Joy of Giving a Handcrafted Gift
                                                               

                                                                                                 Frugality and Thriftiness

The Workshop team have a confession: yes we have popped out and spent a few nuggets on bought cards, when our crafty stores are brimming over with all the material we could ever need to make our own! So we are pulling our socks up, hauling on the overalls and firing up the stove for an endless supply of hot chocolate... as we abandon the checkout queues and get back to basics!

And first a little practice as Christmas approaches... a few oddments have already been brought home, ready to be wrapped in brown paper and tucked under the tree... but no more!  We have made our pledge to homecrafting gifts and cards and here we will start...

... with Spiced Smiles... the first concoction from the Workshop Kitchens... coming to friends and family this festive season!

Papercraft Post - Homemade Envelopes

Now I'm often raiding the farthest corners of my craft cupboard, hoping to find a long lost envelope somewhere in Narnia!  But it is so easy to make your own! 

I once had a plastic shop-bought template for making them...that too has been swallowed up in the snowy regions of the cupboard...but who needs shop bought, when by simply deconstructing an existing envelope, you can create your own card template...

...and then the world is your oyster!  Any paper, old magazine pages, old wrapping paper can become the most cheery envelope for that personal postal delivery!

Start with a card template and pages from an old magazine...

...add a little bit of basic origami magic...

...and you have conjured a beautiful array of unique envelopes!

Next to create my own labels to write the address on... 

...oh and careful positioning of the template is vital I discovered; one of my envelopes has a lovely close-up of a tubby bird tummy...while the head has disappeared over the back!